Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”
Esther 5:7-8 (NIV)
In The Godfather, Michael Corleone shares one of the secrets of his success with a compatriot. “My father always said, ‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
It wasn’t just a line. It’s a theme running through the entire trilogy of the classic trilogy. While the family celebrates, Vito eliminates rivals. Michael embraces betrayers at the table, only to deal with them when the moment is right. Baptisms and executions unfold in parallel.
One of the more fascinating, and challenging, of Jesus’ parables are those that honor shrewdness. The vineyard owner hires workers throughout the day and agrees to pay each the same amount of money. Those who worked ten hours agreed to the same wage as those who worked two. They are angry, but Jesus says that the vineyard owner was generous, and while Jesus doesn’t specifically say it, the owner was also shrewd. In another parable, a manager who has just been sacked goes to all the vendors who owe his boss money and settles their debts for a fraction of what’s owed. In the parable, the fired manager is complimented for being so shrewd.
These things came to mind this morning as I read today’s chapter. Esther is Queen. The villain Haman has set genocide into motion for all the Jews in the Persian Empire. Mordecai has implored Esther that God has put her on the throne “for such a time as this.” Now, she has to risk her life by going to the King without being summoned, and pray he shows her his favor.
Once again, the author of Esther’s story proves a master story-teller, for today’s chapter does not resolve a single thread of the story line. Instead it builds the tension and ratchets up the anticipation.
And Esther proves herself shrewd.
She goes to the king in full royal regalia.
The king likes bright, shiny, beautiful things, and she knows it.
She doesn’t barge into the throne room making accusations.
The king loves banquets, and being honored. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Rather than calling Haman out in a courtroom, let’s invite him to a feast.
Even with the king begging her to tell him what she wants to talk to him about, and seemingly disposed to do whatever she requests, she puts him off a second time and invites him and Haman to a second feast.
Esther understands the appetites of power — indulgence and intrigue — and she feeds both.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
In the quiet this morning, I find myself meditating on the lessons Esther has for me with her shrewdness.
I rush into rooms swinging anger.
Esther enters wearing dignity.
I demand justice now.
Esther prepares a table.
I confront fast and furiously.
Esther lets pride expose itself.
Esther reminds me that when it comes to dealing with enemies and those who wish me ill will, I don’t need to force the outcome.
Faith is not frantic. It is patient courage.
Esther channels Paul’s advice to the believers in Rome (who were dealing with their own brand of enemies wanting them dead):
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
In addition, Esther wears her identity. She doesn’t enter the King’s presence as an orphan. She enters as queen.
As a child of God, I am a child of the King. I can approach the “throne of grace” with the matter of any enemy I may have. And I don’t approach God or the world in rags of insecurity.
The gallows may be rising in someone else’s backyard.
The banquet may still be unfinished.
But I am robed in calling.
And I trust the Author with the timing of the third act.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
